Is Amazon deleting side loaded books?

deb27 · 11-08-2023, 02:04 PM

My typical process for managing my books on my kindle is to purchase them from Amazon and allow Amazon to download my purchases to my device.
I also will download those same books from my computer and pull them into Calibre (with the DRM stripped off).

I do not sell, loan or distribute DRM stripped books. I only do this because when I upgrade to a new kindle device, it's too hard to get all my books onto my new device because Amazon has no mechanism to download all books - you have to do them 25 at a time.

Instead I just copy all the books from Calibre onto the new device.

Recently I discovered that a large number of my books on my current device mysteriously were no longer downloaded. I.e. if I wanted to read one I had to download it again. After some research, the missing downloads appear to be the ones that I had copied to the device from Calibre.

Has anyone else seen this? Is this their new way to keep people from stealing books and distributing them without DRM? I do understand their concern about piracy and I support authors by purchasing their books.

JSWolf · 11-08-2023, 02:14 PM

Amazon is not deleting side-loaded eBooks. If Amazon was doing this, there would be a major outcry and we'd have more then 1 post on MR about this.

Quoth · 11-08-2023, 02:26 PM

More likely a menu setting on the Kindle or file corruption.

Amazon isn't going to delete content you copied by USB or WiFi from you own gear.

JSWolf · 11-08-2023, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

More likely a menu setting on the Kindle or file corruption.

Amazon isn't going to delete content you copied by USB or WiFi from you own gear.

Good point on settings maybe being wrong. Amazon makes it very easy to change the setting to show your side-loaded eBooks.

I cannot say where that setting is as I don't have the latest Kindle firmware. I don't even have the latest PW3 firmware installed.

deb27 · 11-08-2023, 02:50 PM

I can't find any setting on my Paperwhite that can identify what I copied from Calibre vs what was downloaded from Amazon.

The only options in the filters for "type" are: books, samples, documents, newstand, audible, comics and collections.
Books which I purchased from Amazon but copied to the device from Calibre show up under the "books" type - as do the books which were sync'd directly from Amazon to my device.

I looked up the date when I purchased the Paperwhite. So far, of all the books I've checked, books purchased before the Paperwhite (which would have been copied to the device from Calibre) are gone.
All of the books I've purchased after getting the Paperwhite (which would have been downloaded directly from Amazon) are still there.

So it looks to me like all books that I purchased and copied to the device via Calibre were deleted.

Of course, since I purchased them, I can re-download them from Amazon or re-copy them from Calibre but I think Amazon removed them because I can't come up with any other theory for why 1300 books disappeared from my device.

JSWolf · 11-08-2023, 02:53 PM

Amazon did not remove any eBooks from your Kindle.

Which Kindle are you using and what version firmware?

jhowell · 11-08-2023, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Amazon is not deleting side-loaded eBooks. If Amazon was doing this, there would be a major outcry and we'd have more then 1 post on MR about this.

I have seen multiple reports of this happening recently. Users report books that were sideloaded via USB suddenly disappeared. A common factor in many of those reports is connecting the device via Wi-Fi after a long period of it being offline.

JSWolf · 11-08-2023, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

I have seen multiple reports of this happening recently. Users report books that were sideloaded via USB suddenly disappeared. A common factor in many of those reports is connecting the device via Wi-Fi after a long period of it being offline.

Did any of these people plug in the Kindle to USB and have a look to see if the eBooks were still there? I cannot see why Amazon would remove side-loaded eBooks.

deb27 · 11-08-2023, 02:59 PM

JSWolf
Kindle Paperwhite (11th Generation)
Firmware Kindle 5.16.4 (4131240058)

Something removed the downloads and it wasn't me.

My only other suspect is Amazon. If ALL the downloads were gone I might think it was a device error. However 400+ out of my 1700 books still had their downloads. And it seems that they were the most recent purchases (i.e. acquired after purchasing the Paperwhite).

deb27 · 11-08-2023, 03:02 PM

Here's my theory for what it's worth.
Amazon knows what I purchased. And it has the ability to remove books from a kindle (such as those which were borrowed from a library or Prime Lending). If it sees a book on the kindle which was purchased but no longer has DRM, they're removing the file from the device.

I have yet to come up with another solution for the disappearance of 1300 books.

jhowell · 11-08-2023, 03:22 PM

It is common for books converted to Kindle formats via calibre to include metadata indicating that the book was obtained from Amazon (CDETYPE=EBOK) as opposed to being a personal document.

Amazon keeps track of which purchased or borrowed books are supposed to be present on each device registered to a user.

It is possible that a cleanup process has been added that is occasionally checking device contents against the user's purchases and removing supposedly purchased books that should not be present on the device.

Sirtel · 11-08-2023, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhowell

It is possible that a cleanup process has been added that is occasionally checking device contents against the user's purchases and removing supposedly purchased books that should not be present on the device.

What an awful idea. Has Amazon entirely lost all their collective marbles? Now they're messing with the users' personal content on their personal devices; what next? Disable any USB sideloading and allow personal documents only through their server?

This is madness. If your theory is true, that's a very good reason to never buy another Kindle.

binaryhermit · 11-08-2023, 05:06 PM

I'd think the more likely explanation is that Amazon messed something up accidentally.

janrey · 11-09-2023, 12:36 PM

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...loaded-ebooks/

It maybe a bug between Calibre and Kindle.

ownedbycats · 11-09-2023, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

I'd think the more likely explanation is that Amazon messed something up accidentally.

Something something never assume malice when incompetence something....

11-08-2023, 02:04 PM	#1
deb27 Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Is Amazon deleting side loaded books? My typical process for managing my books on my kindle is to purchase them from Amazon and allow Amazon to download my purchases to my device. I also will download those same books from my computer and pull them into Calibre (with the DRM stripped off). I do not sell, loan or distribute DRM stripped books. I only do this because when I upgrade to a new kindle device, it's too hard to get all my books onto my new device because Amazon has no mechanism to download all books - you have to do them 25 at a time. Instead I just copy all the books from Calibre onto the new device. Recently I discovered that a large number of my books on my current device mysteriously were no longer downloaded. I.e. if I wanted to read one I had to download it again. After some research, the missing downloads appear to be the ones that I had copied to the device from Calibre. Has anyone else seen this? Is this their new way to keep people from stealing books and distributing them without DRM? I do understand their concern about piracy and I support authors by purchasing their books.

11-08-2023, 03:02 PM	#10
deb27 Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2	Here's my theory for what it's worth. Amazon knows what I purchased. And it has the ability to remove books from a kindle (such as those which were borrowed from a library or Prime Lending). If it sees a book on the kindle which was purchased but no longer has DRM, they're removing the file from the device. I have yet to come up with another solution for the disappearance of 1300 books. Last edited by deb27; 11-08-2023 at 03:05 PM.

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11-08-2023, 02:14 PM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,049 Karma: 134368292 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Amazon is not deleting side-loaded eBooks. If Amazon was doing this, there would be a major outcry and we'd have more then 1 post on MR about this.

11-08-2023, 02:26 PM	#3
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 12,268 Karma: 89531599 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	More likely a menu setting on the Kindle or file corruption. Amazon isn't going to delete content you copied by USB or WiFi from you own gear.

11-08-2023, 02:50 PM	#5
deb27 Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2	I can't find any setting on my Paperwhite that can identify what I copied from Calibre vs what was downloaded from Amazon. The only options in the filters for "type" are: books, samples, documents, newstand, audible, comics and collections. Books which I purchased from Amazon but copied to the device from Calibre show up under the "books" type - as do the books which were sync'd directly from Amazon to my device. I looked up the date when I purchased the Paperwhite. So far, of all the books I've checked, books purchased before the Paperwhite (which would have been copied to the device from Calibre) are gone. All of the books I've purchased after getting the Paperwhite (which would have been downloaded directly from Amazon) are still there. So it looks to me like all books that I purchased and copied to the device via Calibre were deleted. Of course, since I purchased them, I can re-download them from Amazon or re-copy them from Calibre but I think Amazon removed them because I can't come up with any other theory for why 1300 books disappeared from my device.

11-08-2023, 02:53 PM	#6
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,049 Karma: 134368292 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Amazon did not remove any eBooks from your Kindle. Which Kindle are you using and what version firmware?

11-08-2023, 02:59 PM	#9
deb27 Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2	JSWolf Kindle Paperwhite (11th Generation) Firmware Kindle 5.16.4 (4131240058) Something removed the downloads and it wasn't me. My only other suspect is Amazon. If ALL the downloads were gone I might think it was a device error. However 400+ out of my 1700 books still had their downloads. And it seems that they were the most recent purchases (i.e. acquired after purchasing the Paperwhite).

11-08-2023, 03:22 PM	#11
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,694 Karma: 86234809 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	It is common for books converted to Kindle formats via calibre to include metadata indicating that the book was obtained from Amazon (CDETYPE=EBOK) as opposed to being a personal document. Amazon keeps track of which purchased or borrowed books are supposed to be present on each device registered to a user. It is possible that a cleanup process has been added that is occasionally checking device contents against the user's purchases and removing supposedly purchased books that should not be present on the device.

11-08-2023, 05:06 PM	#13
binaryhermit Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,705 Karma: 20469902 Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Lockport, IL Device: Kindle PW4, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	I'd think the more likely explanation is that Amazon messed something up accidentally.

11-09-2023, 12:36 PM	#14
janrey Groupie Posts: 162 Karma: 178100 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: Kindle3, Voyage	https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/20...loaded-ebooks/ It maybe a bug between Calibre and Kindle.

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